It does seem rather legally bizarre that Germany proceeds to detain and consider extraditing Captain Paul Watson on the basis of a warrant which Interpol has dismissed as politically motivated, and without any apparent legal basis given the inexistence of an extradition treaty with Costa Rica. Furthermore with Japan confirming an extradition request against the founder of Sea Shepherd on July 19th, it is highly plausible that upon extraditing Captain Watson to Costa Rica, Germany would facilitate Watson being delivered into Japanese custody, especially as the two countries do have an extradition treaty.

Consequently the Frankfurt High Court should consider that upon being extradited to Japan, Captain Watson would not receive a fair trial. The mere fact that Japan fails to respect international law by ignoring the ban on commercial whaling, as well as recently blocking within the IWC-Panama, the Latin American initiative of creating an Antarctic whale Reserve, should be more than enough evidence to convince Germany of Japan’s political and economic motivations behind the extradition requests.

Most peculiar is the legal motive behind the extradition in the first place. The German courts need only refer to the numerous Embassy reports that suggest strong mafia links with shark fining in several Latin American countries, Costa Rica in particular.

SHARK FINNING IN COSTA RICA

Within this context, the Environment Mission has formalized a request to Chilean Senator Juan Pablo Letelier to support and accelerate political asylum for Captain Watson in two South American countries. In so doing, Senator Letelier has also been asked to refer German, Costa Rican and Japanese involvement in the Paul Watson case, to the European Parliament, and the Inter-American and Inter- Parliament Commissions on Human Rights.

SENATOR JUAN PABLO LETELIER AND FORMER PRESIDENT MICHELLE BACHELET

Dr. Gustavo López Ospina, President ART, Mariana Almeida, Executive President of SELVA-Vida Sin Fronteras, and Siona Shaman Delio Payaguaje, are amongst the founding members of the Environment Mission.

I commend you in your effort to seek out the truth and to expose the seedy dealings between Costa Rica and Japan. Anybody that loves wildlife, especially, marine life, should boycott countries like Costa Rica, Japan, (and for that matter, China) at all costs. It is obvious that the Japanese and Costa Ricans want to incarcerate Paul for political reasons and not because he ever endangered anyone’s life. It’s funny how some ignorant people and those motivated by greed can so easily place the “terrorist” label uopn an organization that through its 30 plus year history, has not killed anyone. Instead, we should focus on the real terrorists… the government of Costa Roca who have links to the Asia shark finning mafia and who allow vessels to blatantly fish in their “protected marine reserve” surrounding the Cocos Islands… not to mention Japan, for their blatant use of the loophole (provided by the toothless and gutless IWC) that allows for “scientific” hunting of whales… what a joke!

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